Top 10 Tuesday – We Are Movie Geeks

Top 10 Tuesday: WAMG’s Favorite Oscar Nominees

We’re getting closer to Hollywood’s night to shine – the Oscars. This year’s nominations are a bevy of brilliant films, performances and crafts, the motion picture industry at its best.

The Academy Awards is the gold standard by which every other awards show is measured, because when it comes to the biggest night in film, nobody does it better than Oscar!

In anticipation of the star-studded night at the Dolby Theatre, the gang at WAMG has chosen their favorite nominees – from the Best Picture and Best Acting categories to the technical categories, here’s a close-up look at our Top 10 Favorite nominees.

BEST Picture – AMERICAN HUSTLE

By Jim Batts

The Best Picture Oscar usually goes to the film that shines a light on a social injustice, a historical event, or individuals battling injury or disease. The most wildly entertaining (sorry Marty and Leo, but three hours of arrogant drug abusers wears very thin) of the nine nominees has, at least, one of those areas covered. As it states right before the action begins, “some of this really happened”. AMERICAN HUSTLE looks into the “Abscam” scandal of the late 1970’s, but it’s so much more. It’s about people trying to survive, discovering true love, and being given second chances.

Perhaps even more than of the characters, the biggest second chance story may be the director and co-screenwriter David O Russell. Bouncing back from some box office duds and some humiliating on set secret videos, Russell has delivered the best of his recent comeback trilogy that began with THE FIGHTER and continued with last year’s (last year?!) SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. HUSTLE owes much of its inspiration to Scorsese (particularly GOODFELLAS) as the camera careens through the hotel rooms and restaurants while a superb pop music soundtrack conveys every mood and atmosphere. But Russell’s not just aping a film-making master. The film explodes with energy and humor as it celebrates these cops and con men (and women).

As with PLAYBOOK, Russell has placed an actor in each of the Oscar categories this year. Many have worked with him before and now join forces in a very impressive repertory company. Christian Bale proves to be a new cinematic chameleon as he transforms into the schlubby (maybe the screen’s greatest comb-over!) Irving (this guy was Batman?). Amy Adams stuns as the slinky, sexy Sydney (and the “hoighty-toighty” Lady Edith), full of street smarts as she uses her wardrobe (those blouses opened doooown to there!) to distract. Particularly distracted (and smitten) is Bradley Cooper, freed from the paycheck drudgery of THE HANGOVER III, as the ambitious FBI man, Richie. The film’s biggest revelation may be Jennifer Lawrence as the manipulative Rosalyn who’s pathetic, seductive, and repellant, often at the same time. Also terrific is Jeremy Renner as the back-slapping politco who may just be the film’s center of morality along with comic Louis CK as Richie’s put-upon, frustrated superior. Oh, and there’s a fantastic cameo by an iconic actor in a highlight I won’t spoil. This is an unmatched movie dream team.

This year’s Oscars will more likely be a repeat of the 1990 awards when the more high-minded DANCES WITH WOLVES won out over GOODFELLAS. But as the years have gone by, which has been more celebrated, referenced, and studied? Sure, it’s nice that the Academy likes to send a nice moral message with the big prize, but I’m still hoping that Russell and his merry band of tricksters can pull off a truly big “golden” sting.

Best Documentary Feature – THE ACT OF KILLING

By Travis Keune

Rarely does a documentary film present itself with such an original approach as THE ACT OF KILLING. Director Joshua Oppenheimer takes an absolutely terrible part of Indonesian history and devises a method to explore the dark subject matter of the film with the actual people responsible for the atrocities that exposes the truth with full transparency, but with a touch of surreality.

Oppenheimer asked the individuals responsible for the executions of alleged communists in Indonesia to reenact what occurred on film in whatever way they felt most comfortable.The result of which is honest, but oddly just as entertaining as it is heartbreaking, especially as the emotional toll begins to build and erupt and the killers humanity shows through and the regret and guilt emerges. As an audience, we bare witness to this experiment in psychology unfolding in a way never before seen on film.

The film is sometimes awkward, or even difficult to watch, but the end result is a masterpiece in documentary filmmaking that won the support of Werner Herzog and will leave a lasting impression.

Best Cinematography – Roger Deakins PRISONERS

By Michelle McCue

The terrifying events that unfold in PRISONERS cause each character to react in a manner he or she likely never would have thought possible.

Screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski’s story and Director Denis Villeneuve’s film, along with a top-flight roster of actors, including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano, are captured by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins.

Deakins utilized color, along with light and shadow, to amplify the atmosphere around the story while most of the time, giving this heavy drama a monochromatic feel. Creating a claustrophobic, dark element, the cinematographer shot the film digitally. The days in PRISONERS are gloomy and overcast, and the nights, largely because of Deakins’ work, are very poetic.

Roger Deakins is a ten-time Academy Award nominee for Best Cinematography, for his work on Joel and Ethan Coen’s FARGO, THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TRUE GRIT; Frank Darabont’s THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION; Martin Scorsese’s KUNDUN; Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD; Stephen Daldry’s THE READER, which he shared with Chris Menges; and, most recently, Sam Mendes’ SKYFALL.

Yet, the Oscar has always eluded him.

However, nominated seven times for the BAFTA Award, Deakins has won three for THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TRUE GRIT.

His work has also garnered him eight nominations for the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) Best Cinematography Award, with five wins, and two Independent Spirit Awards, with an additional nomination. In 2008, he received the National Board of Review’s Career Achievement Award, and in 2013, Deakins was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the UK, the only cinematographer to have been given this high honor.

Deakins has been nominated eleven times for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Award and won three, for SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE and SKYFALL. Cited was his work on the ten features listed above, as well as on Sam Mendes’ REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. He received the ASC’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2011.

He has also served as visual consultant for several animated features, including WALL•E, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, RANGO, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS and THE CROODS. He is currently consulting on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 and the cinematographer on Angelina Jolie’s UNBROKEN.

Academy Voters! Don’t you think now would be a good time to finally acknowledge Deakins with an Oscar?

BEST Actress – Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, BLUE JASMINE

By Tom Stockman

Were it a weaker year for the Best Actress category, Judi Dench would be a shoo-on for her swan song PHILOMENA or Sandra Bullock might take home the big prize for her desperate and resourceful turn in GRAVITY. But it’s not a weak year. It’s an extraordinarily strong one, but neither of these gals (nor Ms Streep or Ms Adams) stands a chance against Cate Blanchett and her ferocious performance in BLUE JASMINE.

The range of emotions Woody Allen’s script demanded of Blanchett was immense and she responded with a performance people will be talking about for a long time. Blanchett was a riveting image in BLUE JASMINE, not just for the things Jasmine said but for the ravaged beauty and sadness she allowed the camera to find in her face and clothes-horse figure. Blanchett fully embodied the agony of Jasmine as the character went from vodka-soaked delusional to haughty dismissal of those she considered inferior and from gloomy introspection to babbling madness.

Constantly throwing back Xanax and martinis to cope, Blanchett performed emotional highs and lows, often within the same scene and her performance was really something to see. The Oscar will join the many other awards she’s deservedly received for this role.

Best Picture – CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

By Melissa Thompson

Going in to see CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, I was pretty much prepared to see another “docudrama” that was going to depict a real-life event. I didn’t know too much about the story of Captain Richard Phillips and the Maersk Alabama, other than the nightly blurbs we would see on the news during the time the events occurred. Somali Pirates, merchant marines, hostages, Navy Seals – all the buzz words were there, so like many others I was enticed into seeing the movie. Turns out it was a REALLY good movie. It had everything. Good guys, bad guys, a hero, numerous gunfights, a ton of suspense, and best of all, a happy ending of sorts. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but couldn’t help but think it was almost “too good”.

So many “true stories” these days take so much dramatic license, you don’t really know how much is true and how much is embellished just to create a more powerful narrative. But I wasn’t 100% convinced. So I did some research, and what I found was pretty amazing. Turns out, the way the events are portrayed in the film is EXACTLY how it happened. Details and timelines are precise, as well as much of the dialogue that took place between the crew, the pirates, and Phillips himself. I was most fascinated by this clip – CNN news footage that could be easily confused with the movie if you didn’t know what you were watching:

With so many films these days relying on CGI and special effects, it was refreshing to see a true story be, well, true! There was no cliffhanger, or plot twists, or ridiculous global destruction. Just the harrowing sequence of events told from the perspective of those who were actually there. If that is not a Best Picture nominee, I don’t know what is.

BEST Original Screenplay – HER

By Gary Salem

The original screenplay nomination for HER is my favorite because Spike Jonze had so many ideas that work together on different levels. He created a compelling sci-fi romance in a world that looks strange and familiar at the same time.

The operating system gets inside Theodore’s head both literally and figuratively. Her gets inside the viewer’s head and stays there to give them something to think about, like being in love…with technology.

Best Animated Short Film – GET A HORSE!

By Melissa Howland

Directed by Lauren MacMullan and produced by Dorothy McKim, GET A HORSE! is the perfect blend of black and white hand drawn animation and 3D computer imaging.

The short is a contemporary homage to the first animated shorts featuring Mickey Mouse, with all-new, black-and-white, hand-drawn animation that’s paired with full-color, 3D, CG filmmaking—in the same frame. Mickey (voice of Walt Disney), his favorite gal pal Minnie Mouse and their friends Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow delight in a musical haywagon ride—until Peg-Leg Pete shows up and tries to run them off the road. This groundbreaking short takes a sharp turn when Mickey finds himself separated from Minnie and must use every trick up his sleeve to find his way back to her.

GET A HORSE! is packed with laughs, and features archived recordings of Walt Disney for the voice of Mickey Mouse. As a short, it stands apart from anything we’ve seen in animation, and is sure to put a smile on your face!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

By Tom Stockman

I wasn’t sure of Jonah Hill’s performance as Jordan Belcourt’s bucktoothed loose-cannon first lieutenant Donnie Azoff in WOLF OF WALL STREET would be received as brilliantly comic or an undisciplined train wreck.

It was a strange role, one that straddled drama and dark comedy but it was perfect for the actor. Whether masturbating in public or swallowing goldfish, Hill was so much fun to watch in WOLF OF WALL STREET and clearly made an impression on the Academy.

He won’t win, in part because of the political incorrectness of the character, and because it’s a strong field, but he deserved the nom and I’m glad he got it.

Best Actress – Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, GRAVITY

By Sam Moffitt

I have not seen very many of the movies up for awards this year. But I cannot imagine that any actor or actress could possibly do better work than Sandra Bullock does in GRAVITY.

Set in outer space this remarkable film is really about inner space. Stranded through a series of calamities in Earth orbit Sandra Bullock’s character Ryan Stone goes through serious changes trying to get back to solid ground. I’m not sure if everything she does is possible with the current technology of space travel but the tension and suspense are unbearable.

GRAVITY is an epic look at the human will to survive, that incredible drive that can bring people through to safety in the most grueling of ordeals. Gravity is a love song to every person who ever struggled to overcome cancer, who was ever ship wrecked, buried under rubble, lost in the desert, wounded in a war, maimed in an accident and struggled against over whelming odds to not only survive but to prevail and get on with their lives.

Think of all the people in just the last ten years affected by hurricanes, civil wars, drought, famine, volcanoes, tornados, tsunamis and their struggles to survive.

The sorrows of the whole human race are laid on Sandra Bullock’s frail shoulders and she comes through, my Lord how she comes through!

How heartbreaking to see tears in zero gravity, and in 3-D! How awesome to see the performance of a lifetime that relies so much on body language, facial expressions and gestures. And her performance is almost entirely alone. The only recent film comparable would have to be 127 Hours and James Franco’s brilliant performance in another story of survival against all the odds.

The sight of Ms Bullock curled in a fetal position and turning slowly, slowly in zero gravity is awesome, heartbreaking, primal, (on a gut level) and so poetic and beautiful, all at once. This is genius film making by Alfonso Cuaron and Sandra Bullock is the only passenger on a roller coaster ride back to the pull of Earth’s Gravity.

Sandra Bullock has already won an Oscar, for The Blind Side, but if ever an actor deserves another win it is her incredible work in GRAVITY. She is one of the best actors of her generation; GRAVITY is one for the ages.

BEST ACTOR – Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

By Michael Haffner

I hope Mr. DiCaprio doesn’t take offense when I say that I truly believe he was born to play Jordan Belfort. Or is Jordan Belfort now really only a “person” thanks to DiCaprio? Either way, the character that emerges on the screen is Scorsese’s dizzying, frantic, and hilarious THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is equal parts unbelievable and frighteningly real thanks in no small part due to Leonardo Dicaprio’s fearless performance. In their fifth on-screen collaboration, Scorsese seems to unleash the shackles on his cinematic muse. Drugs are consumed in excess. Sex is as regular as brushing your teeth multiple-times-a-day.

Most importantly, money can buy you happiness. Well. . . at least a form of happiness. And just as the high from drugs begins to fade away, and the sex eventually reaches its climax, and the money eventually runs out, so too does one’s happiness if you invest your entire life in material belongings. This is all the more ironic considering the film is centered around a power driven financial investor whose job requires him to invest other’s money. The idea of a film chronicling the lavish lifestyle of greedy corporate investors is far from original. However, in the hands of veteran director Scorsese, the escapades conducted by this wild WOLF is consistently entertaining and leaves the audience hungry for more – which says a lot considering the film is almost 3 hours long. Some audience members might not be able to look past the hedonistic activities portrayed on screen by Leonardo DiCaprio.

I know for a fact there have been several screenings where moviegoers walked out of the film. I’m not here to convince those people that I’m right and they’re wrong for walking out, but I will say that they’re choosing to ignore the best performance to date from Mr. DiCaprio. Several times throughout the film we see him take the stage and deliver rousing speeches to his merry band of heathens. He takes to the mic like a Southern Baptist preacher, delivering rags to riches stories and exciting his “congregation” into a fury of shouting, reveling, and fanatical responses that wouldn’t seem out of place among some places of worship. It is in moments like these where I also found myself converted.

I truly adore THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and I know that my love for Scorsese’s film wouldn’t be the same if it not for DiCaprio’s portrayal of Jordan Belfort. You hear stories of DiCaprio jet-setting across Europe with a harem of Victoria Secrets’ models and you can’t help but compare his real life a bit to the film’s main character – which was inspired by real events. Although I know I should separate an actor’s personal life from his career, I can’t help but feel that in this case of “life imitating art” or “art imitating life,” that the result is worthy of Oscar gold.

So that’s our favorites. Let us know yours in our comments section below.

Watch the Oscars this Sunday, March 2, on ABC.

Top 10 Tuesday: Cartoon Franchises We Wish Were Films

While you savored your colorful eggs, Marshmallow Peeps, and chocolate bunnies this past holiday weekend, many ventured out to their local theaters to cheer on the Joes in G.I. JOE: RETALIATION. Paramount Pictures’ Easter basket was overflowing as the action-figure fueled movie took in over $132 million across the globe. Here in the U.S. the Jon M. Chu sequel totaled in the $51 million range.

This isn’t the first cartoon franchise to hit the big screen and won’t be the last. When TV was king, Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles, Pirates of Dark Water, Valley of the Dinosaurs teleported us to another place and the animation studio Hanna-Barbera reigned supreme in every kid’s universe.

Filmgoers have seen their beloved Saturday morning shows and comic book heroes transfer from the small screen to wildly, gigantic movie heroes. Whether you grew up with them as a kid planted in front of the TV with a bowl of Sugar Smacks or collected the comics with your weekly allowance, you have to admit, some of your favorites you’d give anything to see in the cinema.

With that in mind, the geeks came up with the ten Cartoon Franchises We Wish Were Films.

Let’s start with our honorable mention – the muscular one… JOHNNY BRAVO.

A Cartoon Network original, JOHNNY BRAVO is a real man’s cartoon… albeit, not one that highlights our genders’ mental capacity. Starring an egotistical, bodybuilding would-be ladies’ man with an Elvis-style pompadour, Johnny Bravo is always trying to get the girls and he would to, if his own hilarious stupidity wasn’t always getting in his own way. Sit back, relax and watch this muscular moron repeatedly make a fool of himself while popping wise cracks and delivering endless lines of unforgettable dialogue. The plot may sound silly and worn out, but the show remains a popular favorite around the world, even in reruns. “hoo ha hooah!”

10. DEPUTY DAWG

This iconic drawling dim-witted Southern-fried crime-fightin’ canine was one of the last animated superstars from Terrytoons studios. Cartoonist Paul Terry started the company near the beginning of the film industry and gained initial fame with the Farmer Alfalfa series. When talkies began, his cartoons were released by 20th Century Fox. Terry’s biggest stars were the two wise-cracking magpies Heckle and Jekyll and that operatic super-rodent, Mighty Mouse. He was one of the first to see the potential of television and sold the company to CBS. Soon they were producing animation exclusively for TV, and in 1962 they syndicated “The Deputy Dawg Show” to local stations. DD was so popular in the Southern states that his seven minute adventures were shown at theatres and drive-ins. Perhaps a savvy film maker could concoct a SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT parody with the critters. Several members of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour could provide the voices for the CGI Deputy, Musky, and Vince as they raced and chased through a live-action backwoods backdrop. As for the only human regular character, DD’s long-suffering superior officer, can you imagine Hollywood’s “Mr. Cranky” Tommy Lee Jones sporting a droopy white mustache as “the Sheriff”? As that rascally Musky would say, “It’s possa-bull!”.

9. DINO-RIDERS

Amongst the many cartoon series produced to promote a line of action toys for boys, DINO-RIDERS was amongst the less successful, first airing in 1988 and only producing 14 episodes. Despite the series’ relative failure, it was still a blast for it’s more discerning fans and did enjoy a more successful toy launch from Tyco, complete with a matured collectible following that now has these rare toys bringing top dollar. The story has the good guys, the Valorians, fighting off the evil Rulons in a prehistoric Earth. Consider JURASSIC PARK meeting MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, whereas the two opposing forces strap armor and heavy weapons onto dinosaurs and head into full scale kick-ass battle. How much better can this get?

8. THE TICK

What began as a comic book series, became part of Fox Kid’s Saturday morning line up. People across the board loved the quirky quality about it – played so well to young and old alike. In the comics The Tick was an escapee from an asylum while in the TV series the creators made him “Protector” of the city with his sidekick Arthur.

A send up of the superhero genre, the charm and comedy of the animated series has gained a huge cult following. With a nod to the big band era, the show has a snappy opening theme song. THE TICK went from cartoon to TV show that starred Patrick Warburton, David Burke, Liz Vassey and Nestor Carbonell, How’d we love to see this cast in a big screen movie, where there would be budget and time enough to make a live action TICK work.

7. HUCKLEBERRY HOUND

This early Hanna Barbera TV superstar first hit TV screens in syndication way back in 1958, voiced by the astounding voice artist Daws Butler. The blue-furred pup with the Southern drawl (which was not an imitation of Mayberry’s Andy Griffith, as many believe) crooned an off-key version of “My Darling Clementine” while tackling a different profession in each of his seven minute shorts (his show introduced a character who became an even bigger star who’s already had two feature films, Yogi Bear). Perhaps a film could be done with Huck wrecking havoc as he goes from job to job (computer programmer? reality TV star?). So who might give the CGI character a voice? I can almost hear Matthew McConaughey’s laid-back dulcet tones.

6. SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER

Any girl from the 80’s knows that She-Ra was the girl to be! Her, along with the Great Rebellion fought to free their home Etheria from the menacing Hordak and his Evil Horde. They’ve already brought the story of her twin brother He-Man to the big screen. Now it’s time to see the Princess Of Power come to life! Her and her horse Swift Wind are sure to make for a magical flick.

5. THE HERCULOIDS

This was another Hanna-Barbera CBS-TV Saturday morning cartoon produced during the big superhero craze of 1967, also designed by the prolific comic book artist Alex Toth. Instead of a caped crime fighter, this show combined fantasy elements with science fiction (often described as a futurist Tarzan family). The series concerned a human family (father Zandor, mother Tara, and son Dorno) who defended their home planet (referred to as Amzot or Quasar) from countless invading alien forces. Luckily the trio enlisted a group of friendly (and very cool) monsters for help. There was Zok the flying space dragon, Tundro a charging rhino/elephant hybrid, the elastic shape-changing duo of Gloop and Gleep, and, my fave, the powerful, towering rock-ape Igoo. Modern computer effects would be able to bring these fantastic creatures to thrilling life as they battle alongside human actors (I’m seeing Nicolas Cage as Zandor). Perhaps the heroes could aid a group of lost Earth astronauts. An exciting live big-screen adventure could have kids flocking to the multiplexes and the toy stores (I can imagine a “silly putty”-like Gloop).

4. SPACE GHOST

The enormous impact of the 1966 Batman TV show changed the face of Saturday mornings that following September. The head of CBS daytime programming. Fred Silverman (yeah, that one), wanted superheroes from the animation houses. Hanna Barbera Studios were happy to comply. They enlisted comic book artist Alex Toth to design the guardian of the galaxy, Space Ghost (or as his voice actor, the wonderful Gary Owens, bellows in the opening titles, “Spaaaace Ghoooost!”). Here’s one of Toth’s model guides for him:

Along with his young wards, twins Jan and Jayce (voiced by Jonny Quest’s Tim Matheson) and their pet monkey Blip, they thwarted the plans of alien evil-doers like Brak and Moltar. Decades later SG was the clueless, dimbulb talk show host on Cartoon Network’s “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast” in the 1990’s. That show was pretty entertaining even to a SG purist like myself, but I’d love to see a full-out, big-screen space epic using state of the art effects. I’m sure producers could find actors who could fill out the white spandex properly (if only Alec Baldwin were a tad younger), as long as they don’t attempt the gutteral-growl of another big screen superhero (take away his pointy ears and Batman looks just like SG). A great feature film could be made of SG’s origin (where’d he get those cool wrist power bands?), meeting the twins, and a plot by the show’s formidable monster rogue’s gallery. Blip could be done in CGI along with the villains, voiced by some great current actors (the producers would be smart to enlist “Coast to Coast”‘s titnaic triple-threat of talent C. Martin Croker as Zorak, a nasty preying mantis). Click below for a special treat. From the recent “Batman: the Brave and the Bold” series, here’s the team-up that cartoon fans have wanted for nearly 50 years (well, they’re now both in the Warner family):

3. THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN

The future, far into the future, a post-apocalyptic world divided into kingdoms ruled by wizards may sound like the next big summer blockbuster movie plot, but in fact it’s a popular cartoon series from the early eighties. With inspiration drawn directly from the likes of CONAN THE BARBARIAN meets FLASH GORDON, THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN was created by Steve Gerber, who brought us Marvel comics HOWARD THE DUCK (the original). The hero Thundarr finds himself up against werewolves, lizard-men and other strange and evil half-man hybrids and mutants, ready to battle whatever comes his way with his trusty weapon, the Sunsword. Go ahead, read this again and tell me this doesn’t scream Hollywood blockbuster.

2. SUPERFRIENDS

The 1970’s. What a great time to be a kid. No seatbelts in cars, playing outside until the street lights came on, real sugar cereal, Saturday-only cartoons… and Super Friends!

Based on the Justice League comic books, Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, headquarted at the Hall of Justice, battled the Legion of Doom’s Lex Luthor, Giganta, Toyman, the Riddler, Bizarro, the Scarecrow, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Solomon Grundy, Gorilla Grodd, Brainiac, and Sinestro. These super villains’ home was the Hall of Doom and, when it wasn’t flying around, was hidden in a murky swamp. Every show came complete with a baritone voiced narrator to catch newcomers up on the action.

Ask anyone who grew up in the early 70’s if they remember watching Super Friends during ABC’s Saturday morning lineup, their first response will most likely be Zan and Jayna’s “Wonder Twins Powers Activate!”

1. JONNY QUEST

Ah yes, the grandaddy of American adventure action animations shows made for TV. After leaving the MGM theatrical animated shorts department, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera leaped into television with the funny animal characters Ruff and Reddy, Huckleberry Hound, and Yogi Bear. They then decided to enter the world of prime time TV with “The Flintstones”. Its popularity prompted Bill and Joe to follow-up with “The Jetsons”, “Top Cat” and “Jonny Quest”. Yup, this future Saturday morning staple began airing in 1964 on ABC’s prime time schedule. But this would be no toon sitcom complete with laugh track. This was a rough and tumble adventure along the line of movie serials and radio plays (for a time HB considered getting the rights to the old “Jack Armstrong” radio show). And this new show would feature realistically rendered humans, so comic book vet Doug Wildley was brought in to design this dark and dangerous world. JQ focused on the globe-trotting escapades of pre-teen, blond Jonny (voiced by future ANIMAL HOUSE ladies’ man Tim Matheson) the only son of world-famous scientific genius Dr. Benton Quest. The doc was a recent widower, so the US assigned their toughest agent, Race Bannon (he could take on all of U.N.C.L.E. combined) to be Jonny’s caregiver (so no enemy agents could grab Jonny and force the doc to work for the bad guys). After the thrilling pilot ” The Mystery of the Lizard Men” Bill and Joe shook things up by introducing one of the first cartoon heroes of color, the exotic and mysterious Hadji. This turban-clad, Nehru-jacket wearing kid was the coolest pal anybody could want. And Dr.Quest adopted him! Jonny, his brother Hadji, and Race sent countless goons to their makers over the course of the next 25 episodes (the TV censors were much more lenient in the early 60’s). Oh, they had a dog, the hyper, mini-bulldog Bandit (the token cute funny animal). There’s been talk over the years of bringing the show to the big screen (Zac Efron as JQ?). Let’s hope a great action director takes on the task. As for casting, think of a ginger Robert Downey, Jr. (minus the snarky attitude) as the doc. For Race, maybe after Daniel Craig hangs up his 007 tux, his blond locks could go platinum white. Perhaps Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson could be his nomadic girlfriend Jezabel Jade. Oh and series arch-nemesis Dr. Zin (with a toned-down “yellow peril” vibe) would challenge the heroes in a big budget feature action-extravaganza. The show has inspired many animators over the years, particularly the makers of the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim show “The Venture Brothers”. Another inspired artist is Roger Evans who put together this fantastic stop-motion animated (with a bit of computer wizardry) recreation of the show’s thrilling opening titles a couple of years ago. Just try to not tap your feet to Hoyt Curtin’s pounding score. The original follows. Enjoy! “Sim, sim, sall-bim!”

Top 10 Tuesday: Book-To-Film Adaptations

Page to screen adaptations have been bankable fodder since the studios began feeding celluloid to the movie going masses. It’s relatable and something that filmmakers go to time and time again. Look at the success of The Harry Potter, Twilight, Narnia and Bourne franchises. The studios are returning to the literary well once again with such notables as the upcoming GREAT GATSBY, ANNA KARENINA, and LES MISÉRABLES. The latest entry into the fray has been THE HUNGER GAMES franchise. With just the first film so far, it’s worldwide box office receipts has it off to a successful start.

Sometimes the transfer, as in the case of ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, MASTER AND COMMANDER and JOHN CARTER books, doesn’t go over so well because in hindsight it only played out to a niche audience and the box office was worse the wear for it. Even the big name stars, directors and producers weren’t enough to make the above mentioned films the next big franchise. Nevermind when a book’s core audience is so alienated by unfaithful adaptations as was the case in THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING. The love-hate relationship between book lover and movie lover is tenuous at best and dubious at worst.

The latest book-to-film COSMOPOLIS, the new David Cronenberg film starring Robert Pattinson, is adapted from the novel by Don DeLillo. We thought we’d start right off the bat with this week’s Top 10 Tuesday with another well known Pattinson film.

10. THE TWILIGHT SAGA

Oh, TWILIGHT… The book that started a blood-sucking frenzy amongst the youth of America!

Girl meets boy…boy is a vampire…girl meets other boy… Boy is a werewolf…

In 2008, after millions of books had been stripped of the shelves, Edward Cullen was finally given a face as Summit Entertainment released their adaptation of the first novel. The midnight showing on opening day grossed over $7 million dollars, leaving fans reeling. They made it a priority to stay true to the books, as to not upset the Twi-hards. (Trust me… You do NOT want to mess with them!) Thus, the vampire craze was born, pitting vampire against werewolf and leaving Robert Pattinson unable to walk into a mall without being accosted!

9. JAWS

Winner of 3 Academy Awards, the adaptation of Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name gripped audiences in 1975 and thus the Summer Blockbuster was born. The story of a great white shark that preys upon the resort town of Amity Island, JAWS was published in February 1973 and stayed on the bestseller list for 44 weeks. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” has become part of the zeitgeist of the movie geek culture and warned seaside vacationers to See it before you go swimming.

8. CARRIE

Brian DePalma’s first hit, based on Stephen King’s first novel, was a spellbinding horror movie with an unparalleled shock at the end. There have been over 100 subsequent films based on King’s works but CARRIE (1976), a coming-of-age tragicomedy teaming with sexual tension and irreverent religious symbolism, remains the best.

7. GONE WITH THE WIND

Period romance. War epic. Family saga. Popular fiction adapted with crowd-pleasing brilliance. Star acting aglow with charisma and passion. Moviemaking craft at its height. These are sublimely joined in the words GONE WITH THE WIND. Winner of 10 Academy Awards, David O. Selznick’s monumental production of Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book has enthralled generations as one of Hollywood’s greatest achievements.

6. FIGHT CLUB

David Fincher took Chuck Palahniuk’s book and built on it–hitting its targets of mindless consumerism, the sublimination of violent urges, and the tranformation of men into pale imitations of their fathers. We would tell you more about it, but that goes against the #1 rule of Fight Club.

5. OUT OF AFRICA

OUT OF AFRICA is a memoir by Isak Dinesen, a pen name used by the Danish author Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then British East Africa.

Sydney Pollack directed the film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Klaus Maria Brandauer. OUT OF AFRICA won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay Adaptation.

This is the movie and book that made me want to go to Africa. The first time I went, I actually went to visit Karen Blixen’s house and farm, both now part of a museum, and where the movie was filmed.

4. THE HUSTLER

Robert Rossen’s 1961 film adaptation of THE HUSTLER , a novel written by Walter Tevis, is that rare occasion of Hollywood actually improving on an original work. Rossen and co-screenwriter Sydney Carroll had the idea to have Eddie’s emotionally wounded girlfriend Sarah become involved with Eddie’s sleazy manager Bert, which gives the title pool ” hustler ” a driving motivation for the film’s final game. Of course Rossen also provides striking visuals for Tevis’s descriptions of the seedy apartments and hotel rooms along with pool halls that reek of stale air. The perfect casting of George C. Scott as ruthless Bert, Jackie Gleason as the formidable Minnesota Fats ( truly earning him his moniker of ” The Great One ” ), and screen rebel hero Paul Newman as ” Fast ” Eddie Felson make this one of the greatest sports movies of all time. So great that Martin Scorsese called on Newman to reprise his role in the Tevis sequel THE COLOR OF MONEY 25 years later and made another classic.

3. BLADE RUNNER

Ridley Scott’s 1982 film BLADE RUNNER is only loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? However, despite the many variances in story, Dick’s exploration of self identity remains a significant element in Scott’s more action-prone film adaptation, if only as a lingering echo of philosophical afterthought. Both the film and the book are highly respected, successful works of science-fiction storytelling; both have endured with popular cult followings, despite rocky initial critical reception.

2. THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Epic in every sense of the word. A perfect distillation of everything that people have loved about the novels for decades, without any of the stodgier elements of Tolkien’s writing.

1. WIZARD OF OZ

We’ve all seen the movie more times that we can count but THE WIZARD OF OZ is actually derived from a series by Frank L. Baum written over 100 years ago, mostly from the first book in the series, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Prior to the 1939 film version, the books had inspired a number of stage and screen adaptations, including a profitable Broadway musical and three silent films. Baum was innovative in combining the traditional elements of fairy tales, such as witches and wizards, with familiar things such as scarecrows and cornfields. He is credited with teaching children to find magic in the ordinary things surrounding them in their daily lives. Although Judy Garland was considerably older than the Dorothy in the book and her adventures are dismissed as a dream, the film is otherwise reasonably faithful to Baum’s novel.

So that’s our Book-to-Film list. What films would you have included? Let us know in your comments section below.

COSMOPOLIS OPENS IN ST. LOUIS AT THE LANDMARK TIVOLI FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th.

Top 10 Tuesday: End Of The World Movies

Who doesn’t love the “time for the bad news” disaster films. Small scale… global scale, complete with the attempt at character development and not much of a script. The constant, recurring theme in all these films? No character is ever safe. Any big time actor/actress could be picked off at a heartbeat, either by sacrificing themselves or from some alien attack. As we’ve witnessed over the decades, the screenwriter has been Overlord to the Earth’s demise.

With director Lorene Scafaria’s SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, the audience is taken on a humorous, moving, and intimate journey set against the epic backdrop of Earth’s final days after it’s announced that a 70-mile-wide asteroid is en route and mankind will soon be at an end. In this week’s Top 10 Tuesday, WAMG looks at how filmmakers have been trying to scare movie going audiences of impending doom.

10. THE CORE

With the turn of the century, the studios apparently thought 21st century audiences were clamoring for more and gave us Jon Amiel’s THE CORE. The 2003 Sci-Fi disaster film has terranauts traveling to the center of the Earth to restart the core that was snuffed out by a government experiment that went awry. In the meantime, the planet begins to erupt by destroying the Coliseum in Rome and melting San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The tagline on the poster said it all – “Earth Has A Deadline”

9. DEEP IMPACT

In 1998 asteroid flick DEEP IMPACT, film-goers were greeted in the theaters with lots of red comet tails, stars, and the Earth in there somewhere. Critics and even the scientists praised DEEP IMPACT for its scientific accuracy over Michael Bay’s doomsday film. Director Mimi Leder’s special effects laden movie had not one but two apocalyptic endings – two for the price of one. With death and mayhem throughout, DEEP IMPACT was another case of spin the roulette wheel to see who would live and who would die. Some met their doom with the above monster tidal wave on Earth while others by the asteroid itself in space. A movie the Master of Global Destruction would be proud of…speaking of Roland Emmerich…

8. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW & 2012

The director seems to be the maestro at coming up with destructive visuals to famous landmarks. It is his 2012 that inspired this list, and, I’m sure, you’ll be seeing another movie of his somewhere else down the line here. The great thing about THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (other than the incredibly inaccurate geography of, well, everything in that movie) is how nature seems to be chasing down its victims. This isn’t a film about the planet crumbling underneath us, because of all of our wrongdoings. This is a film about nature coming to life and stalking people. Just as the ice chases Jake Gyllenhaal down the hallway of a wrecked ship in TDAT, so, too, does a well-placed tornado look at Mount Lee, think for a bit, and says, “Hollywood Sign,” you’ve got to go.

7. EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

In the 1956 sci-fi classic EARTH VS FLYING SAUCERS, aliens in flying saucers give the Earth sixty days to surrender. Scientist Hugh Marlowe invents some sort of sonic gun, which knocks them off balance and, in the finale of the film, the saucers lose control and crash into various Washington D. C. landmarks. Despite a mundane script, the movie works effectively by adopting a dry, documentary tone and splurging the budget on Ray Harryhausen’s spectacular special effects. The smooth, grey, spinning discs of EARTH VS FLYING SAUCERS have become the definitive UFO, imitated in dozens of subsequent alien invasion movies. There’s always been something quite sensational in watching Harryhausen’s destructive vandalism.

6. WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

“PLANETS DESTROY EARTH!!” was splashed across the poster for 1951’s WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE – a fantastic doomsday film. The giant planet, Bellus, is on a collision course for Earth and an escape ship is built, filled with food, animals, books, medicines, and people with the golden tickets to make the trip to nearby Zyra. A group of people lucky enough to be chosen escape off the planet just before the Earth has a close encounter with Bellus.

5. THE OMEGA MAN

No planets. No aliens. No spaceships. Just your friendly vampire-like creatures on a mission to take out the Last Man on Earth. Based on Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend,” this second version reigns supreme over the first adaptation THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) starring Vincent Price and the third adaptation, I AM LEGEND (2007) starring Will Smith. What could be more scary than the harsh realization of being totally alone after the world has gone to hell-in-a-handbasket.

4. CLOVERFIELD

J.J. Abrams. He’s the creator of so many awesome movies and shows, and always delivers on coolness to the extreme. Regardless of whether you fall into the love it or hate it camp, CLOVERFIELD stands to remain memorable for one reason if no other – the decapitated Statue of Liberty! How twisted is that? The monster beheads Lady Liberty, our most sacred symbol of American justice. Granted, it’s not entirely the idea of Abrams and the writers, seeing as the concept was inspired by the ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Still, that scene, above all others in the film was incredibly intense and jaw-dropping, making CLOVERFIELD worthy of praise in this top ten list.

3. ARMAGEDDON

“A global killer.” It’s still sends chills hearing Billy Bob Thonrton describe the asteroid, the size of Texas, heading directly towards Earth at 22,000 mph. Only option NASA has? Send a deep core oil driller and his crew of roughnecks to land on the asteroid, drill into the surface and drop a nuclear device into it’s core. Easy-peasy! But on this heroic journey, the crew has to embrace the horror and nastiest of conditions in order to save the world and stop the impending Armageddon.

2. PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

Towards the conclusion of the Sci-Fi classic, 1968’s PLANET OF THE APES, just as Taylor (played to the hilt by Charlton Heston) and the gorgeous mute, Nova, have seemingly escaped the clutches of their simian jailers, they’re riding on a horse along the ocean when he sees something on the shoreline. Taylor jumps off the horse, slowly walks over to the object in slack-jawed disbelief before crumbling down into uncontrolled anger, in the mind-blowing realization that he has been home all along. In the harsh truth that his own civilization has been destroyed, Heston yells the staggering pronouncement, “We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you. God damn you all to hell.” The camera zooms out and pans upwards to reveal one of the most recognizable U.S. landmarks, The Statue of Liberty. Bar none, it’s still the best movie sucker-punches ever.

1. INDEPENDENCE DAY

Roland Emmerich has a hard on for destroying cherished land marks all over the world. At the time of INDEPENDENCE DAY’s release, nobody could have expected they’d see so much demolition in one film. The US Bank building in LA, The Empire State Building and the biggest kicker of them all, the White House were all destroyed at exactly the same time, and the blasts coming from them managed to level entire city blocks. The most destructive force in film since The Death Star landed on every single land mark in the world, and damn was it awesome. The capital of the strongest nation in the world, the very symbol of The United States of America’s strength was completely wiped out in a matter of seconds. The model itself was actually 1/12th the size of the actual White House, and that amazing explosion was filmed with nine cameras, generating one of the most amazing explosions in film history, and easily makes our #1 End of the World Movies.

So that’s our doomsday, apocalyptic list.What films would you have included? Let us know in your comments section below.

Opening on Friday, June 22nd (nationwide), the film stars Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, Rob Corddry, Gillian Jacobs, Derek Luke, Melanie Lynskey, T.J. Miller, Mark Moses, Patton Oswalt, and William Petersen.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD is rated R (for language including sexual references, some drug use, and brief violence)

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Twitter: @seizetheend #SeekingAFriend

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TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten ALIEN Characters

1979. Unwary cinema participants. A monster in space. ALIEN redefined the horror genre as never before.”It is a very slow-building film that gives the sense of some great unnamed terror to come. That’s a quality that has much more to do with horror than it does with science fiction.” David Thomson, author of The Alien Quartet says ALIEN is “basically a haunted house film… The only difference is that the old dark house just happens to be a spaceship.”

Sir Ridley Scott, the renowned filmmaker who reinvented the science fiction film genre – having helmed Alien, a groundbreaking mix of science fiction and horror, followed by Blade Runner, one of the most revered and influential genre films of our time – offers his signature brand of action, thrills, scares, and much, much more, when PROMETHEUS is unleashed in theaters on Friday. With PROMETHEUS, Scott has created a new mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey, aboard the spaceship Prometheus, to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

On the verge of scaring us senseless once again and introducing us to a whole new ensemble, the crew of the USS We Are Movie Geeks compiled a list of our favorite characters from the original ALIEN. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about the poor sods who go head to head against “Kane’s son”.

10. The Company

The Company, or “Weyland-Yutani” is the large conglomerate that runs the human colonies outside of the solar system. They are an awful corporate group whose major purpose is to obtain living Xenomorphs as a biological weapon. The goal of this megacorporation, as revealed in Alien Vs. Predator (2010) is to ensure that the human species remains superior.

9. Ash

One of the great twists in ALIEN is the secret behind this cold, methodical crewman. His attack on Ripley with a rolled-up magazine is brutally shocking in a film chock full of brutal shocks. Ash’s creepy smile as he utters, ” You have my sympathies.” is the stuff of cinematic nightmares.

8. “Mother”

The real fear comes not from the mechanoid Alien but the uncaring computer “Mother”. She’s basically the Nostromo’s housekeeper, keeping an eye on everything while the human crew is in suspended animation necessitated by the long journey back to Earth. The dichotomy comes when the “parent” is forced to destroy the house and children she was entrusted to protect.

Ripley: Mother! I’ve turned the cooling unit back on. Mother!
Mother: The ship will automatically destruct in “T” minus five minutes.
Ripley: You… BITCH!

7. Jones

When, at the end of Alien, Sigourney Weaver says, “This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off,” she’s not telling the whole truth. Because there’s another survivor, curled up with her in the hypersleep capsule. Jones (or Jonesey) the ginger tom.

Jones serves multiple functions within the Alien storyline:

1) CATGUFFIN, a pretext for characters to go wandering off on their own.

2) CATPANION, an excuse for Ripley to express herself out loud when she’s otherwise alone.

3) CATSHOCK, a cheap shock tactic in which the cat jumps out unexpectedly.

4) CATSCALLION, a wild card; at the end of the film, the cat might yet be harbouring an alien.

In short, one cannot overestimate the importance of Jones to Alien.

6. Brett

Brett is an engineering tech who is constantly after a raise. He is the first to encounter a full blown Alien… all because he was searching for Jones the cat. Lesson: If you search for a cat, you get dragged into an air duct.

5. Lambert

Veronica Cartwright did an interview for Starlog magazine many years ago that was curiously titled “I was raped by an Alien”. What exactly is the fate of Lambert, the Alien’s first female victim? Her death is off-screen and the fact that her corpse, which we only get a brief glimpse of hanging from the ceiling, is stark naked insinuates that the creature may have indeed raped or sodomized her. I guess what happens in deep space, stays in deep space.

4. Kane

Someone had to be impregnated by the terrifying beastie and it may as well have been the sap willing to go down into the bowels of the derelict ship – Thomas Kane (John Hurt), Executive Officer aboard the Nostromo. It’s what followed a few mere minutes later that will forever be ingrained in the psyche of all who saw the film in May of 1979. The Alien unexpectedly bursts through his chest and kills him during the crew’s dinner.

3. Dallas

The commander of the Nostromo, Captain Dallas, is a stoic movie hero in the vein of Gary Cooper. He has the unflinching respect of his somewhat motley crew, and when their lives are at risk he himself ventures down the narrow air shafts to locate the ship’s unwelcome guest. His horrific sacrifice is even more gruesome in the film’s extended cut.

2. Parker

Chief engineer, smart-alec, complainer and realist. He and Ripley make good team as they’re both skillful and determined to live through the nightmare. That is until he makes the foolish mistake of trying to save the sell-shocked Lambert. (Frankly, we’d have left her whiny ass behind.) There is some comfort that at least before having his head impaled by the creature, he’s able to make a fiery “s-more” out of “the goddamn robot” Ash sent by the company with the flamethrower.

1. Ripley

“Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo. Third officer reporting. The other members of the crew Ash and Captain Dallas are dead.” Ridley Scott’s revolutionary film made history not only with the infamous chest-burster scene but by turning the notion of the woman as victim into the heroine on its ear. Ultimately ALIEN is the story of Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley. Her resourcefulness, courage and let’s just say it, keeping her shit together, makes her a hero for the ages and the obvious choice for our number 1 pick for this edition of Top Ten Tuesday.

Ripley’s Last Stand

Alien

MOVIECLIPS.com

So there you have it. Let us know who your favorite character is from Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece in our comment section below.

PROMETHEUS marks Scott’s first film shot digitally and in 3D, a format whose technical challenges and aesthetic opportunities were embraced by the filmmaker. Scott uses the technology to enhance the action and thrills in small confined spaces, as well within epic vistas. In returning to the genre he helped define, Ridley Scott continues to push the boundaries of storytelling, both visually and thematically. As he notes, he’s all about the “everything” – from story structure to casting, from sets and costumes to new ways of telling a story. And while the renowned filmmaker is scaring the shit out of you, he never loses sight of the big picture. “After you’ve seen Prometheus,” Scott concludes, “you will have experienced something completely unexpected.”

PROMETHEUS will be in theaters Friday, June 8.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Jeffs In Movies

In honor of JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME, the gang at WAMG put together a different kind of Top Ten Ten Tuesday. This Friday, Paramount Vantage and Indian Paintbrush are bringing to the screen Jay Duplass’ and Mark Duplass’ story of Jeff (Jason Segel). On his way to the store to buy wood glue, Jeff looks for signs from the universe to determine his path. However, a series of comedic and unexpected events leads him to cross paths with his family in the strangest of locations and circumstances. Jeff just may find the meaning of his life… and if he’s lucky, pick up the wood glue as well.

So who’s game for a Top Ten Jeffs in Movies? We came up with a list of our favorite “Jeffs” and boy are they a busy lot. As you can see below, these guys have run the gamut between film, TV and the stage. Have a look at our list and tell us who you would’ve included.

10. Jeffrey Hunter

From Jesus Christ in KING OF KINGS to Christopher Pike, 1st Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek, actor Jeffrey Pike made his mark as an actor in both TV and film. Most will remember Hunter’s star making performance in John Ford’s classic American Western THE SEARCHERS as John Wayne’s adoptive nephew. Although he died at the young age of 42, Hunter roles covered the cinematic landscape with such noticeable films THE LONGEST DAY (1962), A KISS BEFORE DYING (1956) and THE FROGMEN (1951).

09. Jeff Speakman

Jeff Speakman was supposed to the next Jean Claude Van Damme. A very accomplished martial artist, Speakman is founder and director of American Kenpo Karate Systems (AAKS), an international kenpo karate organization with more than 50 schools. In 1991 he was cast in the lead of his first showcase film THE PERFECT WEAPON, an adequately mediocre actioner that failed to distinguish itself from the gazillion direct-to-video martial arts films that were flooding the market at that time. He appeared in a few more films but his big moment as the next big thing never materialized and he went back to his (very successful) day job.

08. Jeff Fahey

A dependable character actor, Jeff Fahey scored the plum role of the Humphrey Bogart surrogate in Clint Eastwood’s WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART in 1991 and the title role in the Stephen King adaption LAWNMOWER MAN a year later. Stardom eluded the rugged blue-eyed actor but he kept busy over the next two decades starring in a slew of direct-to-video horror and action films before becoming a TV regular with gigs on CSI and LOST. Robert Rodriguez cast Fahey in his films PLANET TERROR (2007) and MACHETE (2010) and he has a half dozen films in the can for future release.

07. Jeffrey Jones

“There are simply too many notes, that’s all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect,” Jeffrey Jones memorably intoned in his velvety voice as Emperor Joseph II in AMADEUS (1984). Jones followed up this Golden Globe-nominated turn with several more notable roles. He was Principal Ed Rooney in FERRIS BEULLER’S DAY OFF (1986), Mr. Deetz in Tim Burton’s BEETLEJUICE (1988) and was perfectly cast as Criswell in Burton’s ED WOOD (1994 – “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives”). Often cast as a buffoon or foil, the 6′ 4½”actor had a great career going for him until 2004 when he was arrested on child pornography charges and -well – he was great in FERRIS BUELLER!

06. Jeffrey Wright

Primarily a stage actor, Jeffrey Wright has appeared on the big screen in such big films as SOURCE CODE, CASINO ROYALE, THE IDES OF MARCH, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and W. He also had a pivotal role in M. Night Shyamalan’s THE LADY ON THE WATER as Mr. Dury, a word game enthusiast who is the symbolist of the fantasy story. Wright won a Tony Award for his role in Angels in America, and gave an astonishing portrayal of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the 1996 film BASQUIAT.

05. Jeffrey Tambor

Mr. Tambor may be best known for his stellar television work starting with ” The Ropers ” (a low-rated spin-off of ” Three’s Company”) to ” Hill Street Blues ” to ” The Larry Sanders Show ” (as the ultimate thick-headed sidekick Hank Kingsley) and the sublime ” Arrested Development ” (very soon headed to the big screen), but he’s been making an impression on film goers as a superb supporting player going all the way back to 1979 as Al Pacino’s unstable law partner in “…And Justice for All “. Since then he’s been bouncing back and forth between big comedy blockbusters ( THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, CITY SLICKERS, and the two HANGOVER flicks ) and family friendly fare (HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS, various Muppet movies, and voices in MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE). Many times he’s a goofy father or somewhat shady business guy (as in the recent indie WIN WIN), so his role as as Tom Manning in the two HELLBOY films was a pleasant surprise. His uptight, clueless beaucrat become a great addition to the demon fighting team by the end of the first movie mission. Film fans have come to look forward to his great scene-stealing performances when they spot his name in conjuction with projects for the small and big screen.

04. Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Morgan has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most charming actors as well as one of the most sought after. Truly this generations ladies man. From WATCHMEN to THE LOSERS to ALL GOOD THINGS, Jeffrey Dean Morgan comes across on screen as a man’s man. Like Jeffrey Hunter, Morgan is another actor who can easily slip between roles in movies and TV. In the last decade he’s been on such hit shows as “Weeds”, “Supernatural”, and “Grey’s Anatomy”. WAMG looks forward to his upcoming roles in the RED DAWN remake, STARZ’s “Magic City”, and anything else that may come down the road for the fast approaching leading actor.

03. Jeff Daniels

For a fella’ that looks like your typical suburban dad next door, Jeff Daniels has had an interesting film resume’. He first used his affable boyish charm as that cheatin’ hubby Flap in James Brooks’s TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. After that smash it seemed that he was looking to team up with gifted directors rather than grab the ” rom-com ” brass ring. In Woody Allen’s THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO he was the matinee idol that literally walked off the screen to romance Mia Farrow. Then he was an uptight every-man literally handcuffed to wildchild Melanie Griffith in Jonathan Demme’s SOMETHING WILD. A complete turn around from that was perhaps his biggest hit as equally dimwitted brother Harry keeping comic pace with the white-hot Jim Carrey in the Farelly Brother’s DUMB & DUMBER. Jeff’s done his share of ” safe” multiplex fare (101 DALMATIONS, ARACHNOPHOBIA), but in recent years he’s made a mark for himself in supporting roles from PLEASANTVILLE, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, to the quirky recent thriller THE LOOKOUT. Let’s hope that Jeff will continue to surprise us with his big screen choices.

02. Jeff Goldblum

“But, John. If the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.” Jeff Goldblum is perhaps most widely known as Dr. Ian Malcolm from JURASSIC PARK, followed closely as Dr. Brundle from THE FLY. Interesting, both are doctors. Goldblum is an actor not unlike Christopher Walken, an actor we love and that always shows up in every character he performs, but adds such a unique style and personality of his own that we’re perfectly willing to accept this recurring familiarity. Beloved for his trademark style of delivering dialogue with a cool, intellectual stagger, Goldblum never fails to get his point across and always succeeds at making the audience read his facial gestures and body language as readily as we listen to his words.

01. Jeff Bridges

From “The Dude” to Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges puts his all into every character he plays. Bridges made the slacker cool, not just a do nothing bum, reinvented the role John Wayne made famous, but many of his greatest roles are from so many of the lesser known films in which he so graciously partakes, such as a man experiencing an existential epiphany after surviving a plane crash, or when he plays an alien disguised as a human on Earth, struggling to get back home in STARMAN. More than just as actor, Bridges is an artist, a photographer, a musician and has now become a household name and an American icon.

So how did we do? Let us know in the comments section. JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME will be in theaters this Friday, March 16.

Follow on Twitter: @JeffMovie

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Valentine’s Day TOP TEN TUESDAY: Most Romantic Scenes

The cinemas are overflowing with Amore this week with the nationwide screening of TITANIC in 3D tonight, the true-story romance of THE VOW and the sexy THIS MEANS WAR opening Friday. While this genre has never been my cup of tea, there’s no denying the emotional impact of these scenes that make them noteworthy. So if you’re still thinking of a gift for that certain someone on this Valentine’s Day, here’s 10 romantic scenes to consider while searching for that special movie. But first this holiday message from Miss Piggy and Kermit.

Nothing says enduring love better than the story of BRAVEHEART and the Scot who gave his body and soul to his country and woman he loved. William gives Muron the thistle she had given him at his father and brothers funeral when they were children. Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but I can watch this movie all day long and twice on Sunday.

Moviegoers found the Heart of the Ocean in Best Picture winner TITANIC. While the ship and Rose and Jack were ultimately doomed, the transitional scene at the bow of the ship from hopeful beginnings to icy grave still goes down as one of the ultimate heartbreakers of all romance films.

That kiss in THE NOTEBOOK is one you can feel right down to your toes. Unrequited love is a powerful aphrodisiac in the combination of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams – and so apparently is a rain storm.

“And they Call it Bella Notte” the enduring sweetness of the LADY AND THE TRAMP Spaghetti Kiss scene. Walt Disney’s “Best In Show”.

The kindling of their affair was played out for the world in 1963 in this passion filled scene from CLEOPATRA. The biggest scandal of the decade became one of the most intense, romantic moments when Burton literally yanks the coined necklace from an unflinching Taylor.

No list would be complete in making your super-hero hearts beat loudly without the first flight of SUPERMAN and Lois. Having us “Believe A Man Could Fly” while circling the World Trade Center left audiences with soaring feelings of pride.

Every girl’s dream – a pretend wedding.

What could be more dreamy than George Peppard pining for Audrey Hepburn as she sings “Moon River” from BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S. In true fairy tale fashion, Truman Capote’s Holly Golightly ultimately found her “rainbow’s end”.

If there’s any simpler way to say I Love You than with the lyrics “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face,” I’d like to hear it. An ingenious way by songwriters Lehrner and Loewe in MY FAIR LADY to get across Professor Higgins’ futile realization that he’s fallen in love with Eliza Doolittle. A smitten man who’s “grown accustomed to the trace…Of something in the air; Accustomed to her face.”

The girl. The guy. An Italian wheat field. More than 25 years later, Merchant/Ivory’s A ROOM WITH A VIEW still ranks among the best “Happily Ever After”.

A final honorable mention goes to GHOST. Put the pottery wheel and Unchained Melody to the side…far off to the side. The celestial kiss by Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, along with the Maurice Jarre/Alex North soundtrack, make for the tissue-filled ending and perfect Valentine’s Day film.

Watch TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Red Carpet LIVE! Plus 10 Reasons Why We LOVE The Film!

You can tune in right here for the TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON premiere LIVE from New York City, TODAY, at 5:30 p.m/EST to watch director Michael Bay and stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Frances McDormand and Ken Jeong walk the red carpet. The event will be streamed free at yhoo.it/transformerspremiere.

Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON will be shown exclusively at 3D and IMAX locations across the country beginning at 9PM local time Tonight, June 28th, allowing moviegoers nationwide to be among the first to see the latest installment in the hit franchise, and the first to be shot in 3D. The movie will open wide beginning at 12AM on June 29th.

On Monday evening, the crew of WAMG went to the screening of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON and found there was much to love about Michael Bay’s spectacular third chapter in the Autobots vs the Decepticons saga – plus a few things not in the movie. There are some scenes that’ll leave you literally slack-jawed and one cameo more than a little misty. So here goes.

1. Linkin Park Performing “Iridescent” Live in Moscow

In celebration of the film, Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert to more than 10,000 fans at Vasilyevsky Spusk of the Red Square in Moscow – with the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Basilica as the backdrop (June 23rd). The 3D Michael Bay film opened the Moscow International Film Festival. You can hear the song during the film’s end credits.

2. Tyrese Gibson on The Green Carpet

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t exactly a part of the film, but the always handsome Tyrese Gibson’s arrival on the green carpet for the Global Premiere of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON made us sit up and take notice. Moscow Film Festival on June 23, 2011 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Lucian Capellaro).

3. The 3D Look Of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

Held in May at the Paramount Theater at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles, Director/Executive Producer Michael Bay and James Cameron spoke to the gathered crowd of attendees at the TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON 3D – TRANSFORMING VISUAL ART: A Conversation with Michael Bay and James Cameron. After seeing this roller coaster of a movie, we’re convinced!

4. The Wingman Scene & Behind-the-Scenes Look

Photo credit: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Wingsuit flyers in TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, from Paramount Pictures. ©2011 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Hasbro, TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. © 2011 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

5. Bumblebee in TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

Sam Witwicky’s faithful Autobot once again had us wishing for a guardian camaro to call our own.

6. IMAX-Sized Transformers Posters

7. Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime (spoilers ahead)

Lots to love about the Primes in the 3rd installment. To begin with, Optimus now transforms into a conventional Peterbilt 379 cab, rather than the cab over design of his original Generation 1 body, however he keeps his first generation trailer. Second, the autobot smackdown between Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) and Optimus Prime. Lastly, big cheers to the Buzz Aldrin cameo & to the STAR TREK nod by the filmmakers.

8. BIG action scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons

Invisotext Spoiler:

When Optimus learns that the humans have concealed the discovery of a Cybertronian ship on the moon he and Ratchet investigate. They recover Sentinel Prime, who Optimus returns to life using the Matrix. After Sentinel Prime insists the Earth expel the Autobots the Wreckers prepare the Autobot ship Xantium for flight. The Autobots escape in the first booster stage and return to Earth before Starscream destroys the ship. Optimus kills Shockwave in combat and uses Shockwave’s weapon to stop the space bridge from bringing Cybertron to Earth.

9. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Berlin premiere of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON on June 25th, 2011 at the CineStar Sony Center

and finally

10. Michael Bay’s Thank You Note To The Fans

(via http://www.michaelbay.com/)

BERLIN, GERMANY – JUNE 25: Director Michael Bay attends the “Transformers 3” European premiere on June 25, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images for Paramount)

06/26/2011

I just want to take the opportunity to thank all the fans around the world for letting me have fun with the Transformers franchise. It has been a wonderful opportunity to have worked with about 4000 crew members around the world. These artists are some of the very best in the entire film business. I’m honored to have had you work along side me. We had an amazing time.

“Dark of the Moon” has some of the most technically challenging sequences ever shot. And shot in 3D. I must urge you to find the very best theatre and see this movie in that format. 3D was a forethought, not an afterthought in this movie. I’m glad Jim Cameron and Steven Spielberg really convinced me to shoot in this new technology. We used and invented many new techniques to make the 3D sharper, brighter and more color contrast. I think theatre owners heard their audience that they need to respect the specs of the projectors and not dim the bulbs to save money.

Many theaters are presenting it in the brand new 7.1 sound, which is awesome. This is the most comple intricate sound track that me and my Academy Awarding winning sound team have done. They really out did themselves to make this a big picture experience. Hopefully you will have as much fun watching this movie as we all had making it.

Thanks,

Michael Bay

LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 26: Fans smile at the Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – UK Premiere at the BFI IMAX on June 26, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Top Ten Tuesday: ALTER EGO’S

What would you do if you knew that you could become a better version of yourself? If only the best parts, an alter ego if you will, would come out to improve your overall life, would you do it? What if it came at the risk of your life? These are the questions that the new film LIMITLESS ask us, so in WAMG fashion, we used it to inspire this weeks top ten!

TOP TEN ALTER EGOS

Now, these don’t have to be good. We are exploring the good, the bad, and the downright ugly… Enjoy kids!

10. Britt Reid / The Green Hornet (THE GREEN HORNET 2011)

THE GREEN HORNET was originally developed as a radio show in the mid 1930’s and under the vigilante’s mask was Britt Reid, a direct descendant of the Lone Ranger. After a few incarnations over the years (a Universal movie serial, a 60’s TV show costarring Bruce Lee), The Hornet was revived this yeas in a wildly outlandish, silly, and expensive goofball adaptation which presented him in the form of Seth Rogen who rewrote Britt Reid in his own image, a chubby, irresponsible party boy. Rogen’s boyish charms are endearing but far from how the character was originally conceived.

09. Peyton Westlake / Darkman (DARKMAN 1990)

When tragedy takes away all a man has – his home, his work, even his face – he may have no other choice but to become a new person. If not to regain his old life, then to exact revenge on those who destroyed his previous life. This is the plight of Dr. Peyton Westlake in Sam Raimi’s 1990 thriller DARKMAN. Westlake (Liam Neeson) is trying to perfect an artificial skin in order to help accident victims. When thugs break into his lab to grab some documents his girlfriend had left behind, they kill Westlake’s lab partner and blow up the building along with the gravely wounded doctor. Retrieving his almost lifeless body, a team of surgeons sever his nerve endings in order to relieve him of the intense pain. But there’s a side effect – his emotions rage out of control and his physical strength intensifies. Escaping the hospital, the bandaged Westlake takes to the sewers and deserted buildings and begins to put together a new lab. He’ll use his artificial skin to make masks (which dissolve after 100 minutes) and go after the gang. After much effort, he’s able to recreate his old face. He contacts his girlfriend who believed him to be dead. They take in a fair, but disaster strikes when his rage causes him to lash out on a “carnie”. As his face begins to dissolve, Westlake returns to the shadows. The doctor is no more – he is now and forever Darkman. This film plays out liek a great comic book story, although it was written directly for the screen (eventually Marvel put out a comic). THe character resembles the Invisible Man, while hiding out like the Phantom of the Opera, and striking back at evil like Batman. It’s no wonder that it inspired two direct-to-video sequels. A decade later Raimi would get to helm the big screen debut of another alter ego character right from the comics – SPIDER-MAN. DARKMAN is a very entertaining mix of horror, science fiction, superheroes, and crime thriller anchored by a very sympathetic performance by Neeson as the tragic doctor and his revenge obsessed alter ego.

08. Mindy Macready / Hit-Girl (KICK-ASS 2010)

Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of. Well, this is not true for all little girls, especially Mindy Macready who battles crime as the foul-mouthed pre-teen terror Hit-Girl as played by Chloe Grace Moretz in Matthew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of the Mark MIller/ John Romita Jr’ comic KICK-ASS. When we first meet Mindy she’s sweetly talking to her father, ex-cop Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) while standing in an open field on a pleasant sunny day. The quiet is shattered when Damon pulls out a pistol and shoots his little angel square in the chest. Turns out this is their version of home-schooling. She’s testing her bullet-proof vest. Later, after treating her to an ice cream dessert, he gives her a birthday present: a nasty retractible straight razor. It seems that they’re a crime fighting duo – Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. Later we get to see her wreck havoc when Big Daddy sends her into a drug den to rescue the in-way-over-his-head Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson). Those “gangstas” don’t stand a chance. Later she and daddy try and impart some advice to the novice hero (her remarks would make a ship full of sailors bluch). During the big assault on the criminal’s rooftop fortress, Hit=Girl becomes the greatest secret weapon for justice as she uses her little innocent disguise to gain access to the building. At the finale, when Mindy hangs up her tights, mask, and purple wig, she finds her new identity as a grade school girl. Still a bit of that pint-sized hellion emerges when needed. Hit-Girl may have horrified older movie-goers, but the character became one of the unexpected delights in this entry in the super-hero movie genre.

07. Nick Twisp / Francois Dillinger (YOUTH IN REVOLT 2009)

YOUTH IN REVOLT, based off of the 1993 novel Youth In Revolt: The Journals Of Nick Twisp, is the tale of a boy named Nick Twisp, of above-average intelligence, who can’t seem to really say what he really means. This is where Francois Dillinger comes in, Nick’s bad boy alter ego. He has a mustache, a deeper voice, and cares not for authority. He IS Nick’s inner bad boy. The problem is, Francois causes a great deal of trouble by committing crimes that Nick is surely blamed of. Now Nick is stuck either learning how to control Francois or deal with the consequences. Oh yeah, there’s a girl involved with most of it… go figure!

06. Roger “Verbal” Kint / Keyser Soze (THE USUAL SUSPECTS 1995)

Who is Keyser Soze? It’s a question that recurs throughout THE USUAL SUSPECTS and points directly to the heart of what the film is all about. Kevin Spacey portrays the physically handicapped Roger “Verbal” Kint, a small-time criminal best known for his ability to talk, excessively, but he has smarts. He’s recruited into a gang of five very different criminal personalities by the mysterious Kobayashi, employed by the even more mysterious and extremely dangerous Keyser Soze, a name more synonymous with myth than man. The five men reluctantly take the job, fully unaware of the truth behind the mission and the true identity of Keyser Soze, meticulously playing them and the cops the entire time for his own devious ends. For the sake of those of you who, by some unfortunate twist of fate, have not yet seen THE USUAL SUSPECTS, I will refrain from revealing the identity of Keyser Soze anymore than I already have… but, it’s Kevin Spacey. Yes, Verbal Kint is Keyser Soze. Deal with it. It’s your own fault for having waited more than 15 years to see such an awesome film.

05. Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde (DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE 1931)

Who better personifies the alter ego than the dual personalities of Robert Louis Stevenson’s DR> JEKYLL AND MR HYDE. A treatise of separating good and evil by using a potion, the 1930 horror classic stars Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins and Rose Hobart. Or you may be partial to the film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner that was released a decade later in 1941. Either way, both films were based on Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The scenes during the transformation from the sane, calm Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde’s dissolute appearance of that of a murdering maniac were so effective when shown up on the big screen. Director Rouben Mamoulian revealed in the book The Celluloid Muse that it was all done when a series of coulored filters matching the make-up were used, enabling the make-up applied in contrasting colours, to be gradually exposed or made invisible. Perc Westmore’s make-up for Hyde, simian and hairy with large canine teeth influenced greatly the popular image of Hyde in media and comic books; in part this reflected the novella’s implication of Hyde as embodying repressed evil and hence being semi-evolved or simian in appearance. Makes you wonder: Does good and evil lurk in all of us?

04. Norman Bates / Mother (PSYCHO 1960)

“Norman Bates no longer exists. He only half existed to begin with, And now, the other half has taken over, probably for all time.”, explains the psychiatrist just before we last see Norman Bates in the final shot of PSYCHO, now fully transformed into his alter ego, wrapped in a blanket while Mother’s voice speaks. Tony Perkins’ sly expression glares out at us from against an almost blank background, and then briefly, almost subliminally, there comes the superimposed image of Mother’s corpse, her skeletal features briefly lining up with those of her son. PSYCHO is immortal.

03. Clark Kent / Superman (SUPERMAN 1978)

Truth, justice, and the American way. Siegel and Shuster came on to the comic scene in1938 with a radical new concept of the hero America needs-an alien from another galaxy. As the character of Superman/Clark Kent develops over the years, he grapples with the current events and personal affairs like the rest of the planet. His charismatic and handsome persona as Superman (Kal-El) is counterbalanced as Clark Kent; a mild-mannered reporter who is aneyeglass wearing, awkward, and often clumsy human. Guided perpetually by his birth father from Krypton, Jor-El as Superman, and raised by his Earth father, Jonathan Kent, he often seeks direction for his deeds from both for the safety and betterment of our world (and others as the comic series goes on). In a constant battle against good and evil, not to mention copy deadlines,Superman has managed to keep his costume changes a secret via his super speed while keeping his home base at Metropolis. He has become one of the most beloved dual-ego personalities formany generations and many to come.

02. Bruce Wayne / Batman (BATMAN BEGINS 2005)

Just as Superman has been portrayed by many different actors and diverse media types, Batman/Bruce Wayne has successfully engaged our attention since 1939 first appearing in Detective Comics lucky number 27 by the creator Bob Kane. Billionaire Bruce Wayne creates his alter persona Batman in vengeance of his parents murders that he witnessed as a child; thus feeling that he needed his own brand of vigilante justice to balance out the bad in Gotham City. With unlimited income and discretion at his disposal, he is able to maintain a fashionable and high profile image as Bruce, and also a secretive and effective superhero as Batman. Batman is a feared and almost otherworldly opponent against the criminal element by wearing a successful disguise with utility belt and all. Since Bruce Wayne is an incredibly intelligent man, it enables him to enhance his secretive nature as Batman combating the ills of the city and function as the diversified philanthropist. As the saga continues, new gadgets and villains arise in both of his worlds: Bruce Wayne and the Batman.

01. The Narrator / Tyler Durden (FIGHT CLUB 1999)

Even thought the primary character in FIGHT CLUB is played by two actors, the role has been rendered unforgettable by it’s fantastic performances. On the surface, the main character — known only as “The Narrator” and portrayed by Edward Norton — is a apathetic, unambitious average Joe, stuck in a dead-end, unsatisfying corporate job and his only semi-pleasure in life is gradually developing the perfectly drab Norwegian interior design for his flat. That is, of course, until his subconscious kicks himself in the ass in the form of a diametrically opposed split-personality. Enter the memorably malicious Tyler Durden, portrayed by Brad Pitt. Durden takes our main character deep down into the underbelly of civilized life, a place he’s never seen, nor even dreamed of and totally out of his element, but he finds himself completely fascinated. As the two delve deeper into actions and philosophies of anarchy, creating more dangerous consequences with every choice, it eventually dawns on our main character that Tyler Durden is far from who, or what, he ever imagined him to be. Even the the first rule of the fight club is to never talk about the fight club, everyone has — and still is — talking about FIGHT CLUB.

Who are your favorite alter egos? Let us know! After all, you must love movies too or you wouldn’t have stopped by!

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Theme Songs That Share The Movie Title

Ok boys and girls… this week’s top ten is a fun one…

One thing that we miss, here at Movie Geeks, are theme songs with the same name as the movie. Sure, they might be a bit cheesy… but they are also FUN! Plus, you remember them!!! We could tell you all about it, but we’d rather show you… So, in honor of cheesy theme songs we bring you…

TOP TEN TUESDAY: THEME SONGS THAT SHARE THE MOVIE TITLE

10. JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH

09. VIVA LAS VEGAS

08. SHAFT

07. BLUE VELVET

Sorry, had to include this…

06. CAN’T BUY ME LOVE

05. GOLDFINGER

04. FOOTLOOSE

03. MAN ON THE MOON

02. GHOSTBUSTERS

Here is an extra little treat!

01. WEIRD SCIENCE

What do you guys think? What are some of your favorite? Let’s start a fun discussion! (And trust us, there were a ton that we didn’t get to include!)

BEST Picture – AMERICAN HUSTLE

Best Documentary Feature – THE ACT OF KILLING

Best Cinematography – Roger Deakins PRISONERS

BEST Actress – Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, BLUE JASMINE

Best Picture – CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

BEST Original Screenplay – HER

Best Animated Short Film – GET A HORSE!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Best Actress – Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, GRAVITY

BEST ACTOR – Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

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10. DEPUTY DAWG

9. DINO-RIDERS

8. THE TICK

7. HUCKLEBERRY HOUND

6. SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER

5. THE HERCULOIDS

4. SPACE GHOST

3. THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN

2. SUPERFRIENDS

1. JONNY QUEST

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10. THE TWILIGHT SAGA

9. JAWS

8. CARRIE

7. GONE WITH THE WIND

6. FIGHT CLUB

5. OUT OF AFRICA

4. THE HUSTLER

3. BLADE RUNNER

2. THE LORD OF THE RINGS

1. WIZARD OF OZ

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10. THE CORE

9. DEEP IMPACT

8. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW & 2012

7. EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

6. WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

5. THE OMEGA MAN

4. CLOVERFIELD

3. ARMAGEDDON

2. PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

1. INDEPENDENCE DAY

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10. The Company

9. Ash

8. “Mother”

7. Jones

6. Brett

5. Lambert

4. Kane

3. Dallas

2. Parker

1. Ripley

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10. Jeffrey Hunter

09. Jeff Speakman

08. Jeff Fahey

07. Jeffrey Jones

06. Jeffrey Wright

05. Jeffrey Tambor

04. Jeffrey Dean Morgan

03. Jeff Daniels

02. Jeff Goldblum

01. Jeff Bridges

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1. Linkin Park Performing “Iridescent” Live in Moscow

2. Tyrese Gibson on The Green Carpet

3. The 3D Look Of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

4. The Wingman Scene & Behind-the-Scenes Look

5. Bumblebee in TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

6. IMAX-Sized Transformers Posters

7. Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime (spoilers ahead)

8. BIG action scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons

9. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

10. Michael Bay’s Thank You Note To The Fans

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TOP TEN ALTER EGOS

10. Britt Reid / The Green Hornet (THE GREEN HORNET 2011)